Rich Archbold column: Jean Egan would have been thrilled with student intern celebration at Long Beach’s Browning High

The event Thursday was meant to recognize students and companies who hired them for summer internships, a key part of CaLL–or Career-Linked Learning — a nonprofit that engages business partners to support high school students in career awareness for jobs in “the real world.”

The late Jean Egan, who created programs to help thousands of students in school and on the job, would have been more than pleased to see some of her students celebrating Thursday at Browning High School. Courtesy photo

The late Jean Egan, who created programs to help thousands of students in school and on the job, would have been more than pleased to see some of her students celebrating Thursday at Browning High School.

“She absolutely would have been thrilled,” said Ann Garth, Egan’s daughter who was in the audience. “She would have been so happy to see so many high school students and employers getting together for internships.”

Long Beach educational innovator Jean Egan. (Courtesy photo)

The event Thursday was meant to recognize students and companies who hired them for summer internships, a key part of CaLL–or Career-Linked Learning — a nonprofit that engages business partners to support high school students in career awareness for jobs in “the real world.”

Because of Egan’s untimely and unexpected death at 56 last month, the event also served as a final tribute to the educational innovator who started BLAST — Better Learning for All Students Later — a nonprofit developing after school programs for children, many of them at-risk, so they would succeed in school and graduate.

Egan became executive director of CaLL in 2016. Kehau Fujikami, CaLL’s development and marketing consultant who worked with Egan for 17 years at BLAST and CaLL, said Egan had “a passion for kids, to help them grow and give them opportunities for jobs.

Today is a celebration of what she stood for.” She said CaLL placed 103 student interns with 53 employers this summer, a record for the organization.

Cynthia Bater, CaLL’s board chair, asked the packed audience for a moment of silence to recognize Egan’s dedication, hard work and passion in helping students.

Leticia Leos, executive director of the YMCA’s Fairfield Branch, presented a $5,000 check from the Long Beach Rotary Club to Bater.

Two student interns spoke to loud applause.

Carl Gorski, who will be a senior at McBride High School, said his internship at Toyota TABC was “more valuable than anything I could have been paid. I was exposed to many career paths from all parts of the plant. The memories I’ve made will stay with me for the rest of my life.”

Kevin De Leon, a senior at the California Academy of Math and Science, worked as an intern at Long Beach Unified School District Facilities. Parag Mody, an executive with the Erickson-Hall Construction Co., said internships give kids “a taste of the real world.” He recalled meeting Egan for the first time at a career day at Long Beach City College. “She said, ‘Have you got a few minutes?’” he said. “An hour and a half later, she had me sold on the internship program.”

The audience applauded Egan’s ability to talk and persuade.

“The experience of working with real-world projects and not just theorizing with formulas is an extremely eye-opening experience,” De Leon said. “This includes being on time, dressing professionally, getting along with people, being an active listener and being a productive worker.”

Jill Baker, deputy superintendent for LBUSD, said Jean Egan’s legacy will live through students like Gorski and DeLeon and others in the room.

Chris Steinhauser, LBUSD’s superintendent, said internships are very useful and productive. In fact, he said he benefited from one when he was a student at Wilson High School 42 years ago.

Steinhauser wanted to teach history to high school students, but someone said he ought to try teaching at the elementary level first with an internship. “I said no, I can’t sing, I can’t dance, I can’t draw,” a smiling Steinhauser said of skills elementary school teachers needed with younger children.

Rich Archbold is public editor of the Press-Telegram. Archbold, who arrived in Long Beach in 1978, was the longtime executive editor of the Press-Telegram and managing editor before that. He writes a weekly column and coordinates the Press-Telegram's myriad community connections.

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